They took three cornerbacks in the middle rounds of last year’s draft, but Lions general manager Martin Mayhew still considered that position a priority to upgrade entering this week.

“We felt like if the right guy was there, one of the size guys was there, we would go after that player,” Mayhew said.

The Lions didn’t wait long to fill their need Friday, taking speedy Mississippi State cornerback Darius Slay with the fourth pick of the second round.

Slay graded as a first-round pick on the Lions’ board, but he lasted until Day 2 in part because of concerns about a meniscus tear in his knee.

He said he has been told he doesn’t need surgery and that his knee feels “real good” now.

“We talked earlier about some of those traits of the big corners,” Mayhew said. “He’s got a lot of that type of skill set. He’s going to be a great fit for us.

“We’re very aware of where he is physically right now. We’re very comfortable with that. But he’s going to be a good player for us.”

In Slay and third-round pick Larry Warford, a massive offensive guard from Kentucky, the Lions got two more players expected to contend immediately for starting jobs at major positions of need.

Ziggy Ansah, the No. 5 overall pick, should start at defensive end for a Lions team trying to replace Cliff Avril and Kyle Vanden Bosch.

Slay will compete with Bill Bentley, Ron Bartell and others for the right cornerback job opposite Chris Houston, and Warford could take over for Stephen Peterman at right guard.

With Warford in the fold, coach Jim Schwartz said Riley Reiff, last year’s first-round pick, likely will play left tackle this fall.

“I can honestly say that we have not stretched our board for need,” Schwartz said. “There’s been a couple times where we’ve had four or five players basically rated within a whisker of each other, but we haven’t passed a guy that’s significantly ahead of somebody on the board because of a position of need.

“We’ve always talked about talent, and it’s not just talent it’s the way that talent fits. So I think probably the common theme is we’ve found good fits for the spots that we have.”

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Slay, in particular, looks like an ideal match for a Lions team that too often has dealt with a shorthanded secondary in recent years.

He has the size the Lions desire in their cornerbacks at a shade under 6 feet, the requisite playmaking ability coming off a five-interception senior season, and he ran the fastest 40-yard dash among defensive backs (4.36 seconds) at February’s combine.

“I’ve been pretty fast for a long time,” said Slay, whose mother ran track at Savannah State.

The Lions might try to use Slay’s speed on special teams in addition to the secondary.

Slay said he met with Lions special-teams coordinator John Bonamego during his visit to Allen Park this month after the Lions found out he was a standout return man at Itawamba (Miss.) Community College.

“They said they found out that I did returns so they will probably let me practice it,” Slay said. “I’m ready to get out there.”

The Lions still have holes to fill, either through the draft or in the leftovers of free agency, at wide receiver, tight end and along the offensive line. But Mayhew sounded like he’s ready to get his new crop of players on the field, too.

“Definitely some surprises, some things that happened that we did not anticipate,” Mayhew said. “But as I said before, the draft is like a test. If you’re prepared for the test, then you figure it all out. So, we were very prepared. I think the ability to have the majority of the coaching staff coming back, same scouts, same scouting system, is really paying dividends for us right now because of the continuity that we’ve been able to build.”